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Topic: List of PJ 2E Changes (Read 8621 times)

Below you will find a list of all of the rule changes for the second edition.

Racial Changes

Two new races bringing the total to 10 playable racesRemoved the excluded/restricted abilities for non-humans. Increased the amount of design points for humans to balance out the removal of restricted abilities.

Added ten more points to spend on core attributes. Edges/Flaws

Added 5 new flawsAdded 5 new edges

Ability changes

The selection of abilities no longer increases your attribute ratings.

Removed improvised fighting. It is now a specialty under a new ability. Removed fortunetelling. It will be replaced by spells.Removed minstrelsy. Removed psionics as an option.

Use of ranged weapons (archery) is now based just on the rating of this ability. That is, in the first edition you could just use your weapons ability or archery, whichever was higher. Archery could provide a bonus to weapons. Lacking archery meant a penalty. All of this is now removed. If you want to shoot a bow, you use whatever the ranged weapons ability is.

The differences in military command knowledge for Chivalry and Planning have been clarified.

Athletics no longer increases health.

Shamanism now includes the ability to interpret omens.

Specialization

Specialization is now part of the standard rules. Suggested specializations have been added to the abilities that support specialization.

Specialization now grants +10 to its area and all of the other abilities lose 10.

Spell Casting

Spell casting has been slightly nerfed. The level of spell that one can cast is now limited by the PC’s rating in that skill. Lacking the skill incurs a penalty.

Fate Points

Fate Points are now part of the standard rules and no longer optionalFate Points now regenerate with rest instead of XP

Armor Changes

Durability is now an optional rule.Armor protection is reduced.Increased speed penalties for the highest AF armor types.

Resolution Mechanics

The game now uses the 3d10 system. The 3d10 system is a percentile system. You have to roll under your ability rating to succeed. However, a third die is now rolled at the same time. This third die is a Fortune Die. It governs how well the PC performs the action. A success roll combined with a 1 on the Fortune die is now a critical success. A failed roll with a 10 on the Fortune Die is now a critical failure. The other values of the Fortune Die provided descriptive or storyline effects as determined by the GM

Raising Skills

Skills can now be raised by the use – not just by XP. If a player rolls a critical success, there is a chance of the skill improving. If the player rolls percentile dice again and the roll is higher than the ability rating, then the skill improves by 1 point.

XP can still be used to raise skillsExperience Points

Ability specific XP has been removed.Combat

Standard initiative rules are now 1d10+speed with highest going first

Removed turn and segment terminology. All time is based on 6 second rounds.

1. Removed the excluded/restricted abilities for non-humans.Was this done because it should be something specific to each campaign world or were there other reasons?

2. Specialization is now part of the standard rules. Fate Points are now part of the standard rules and no longer optional.I would almost be certainly sure that most people would be using them anyway so I think it makes perfect sense.

3. The game now uses the 3d10 system. The 3d10 system is a percentile system. You have to roll under your ability rating to succeed. However, a third die is now rolled at the same time. This third die is a Fortune Die. It governs how well the PC performs the action. A success roll combined with a 1 on the Fortune die is now a critical success. A failed roll with a 10 on the Fortune Die is now a critical failure. The other values of the Fortune Die provided descriptive or storyline effects as determined by the GM.The Fortune Die is a great addition to the rules. It simulates various levels of success or failure without adding a bunch of unnecessary complicated steps to the rules.

4. Skills can now be raised by the use – not just by XP. If a player rolls a critical success, there is a chance of the skill improving. If the player rolls percentile dice again and the roll is higher than the ability rating, then the skill improves by 1 point.I like this simple system for naturally improving skills! It adds a touch of realism and also makes it harder to naturally increase your skills as your mastery improves. Another great addition.

The removal of the excluded/restricted abilities was a difficult choice. The reason they were initially included was for balance purposes. Non-humans gained racial bonuses and humans did not. So, you need to place some type of hindrance on non-humans.

The problem for me is that I do not like artificial mechanics. Why couldn't race X have ability Y? The only reason that makes sense would somehow be because of the setting. But those restrictions are also difficult to justify. Are we to believe that elves never engage in commerce or that dwarves never try to cast spells? And then with restricted abilities, the idea is that a PC cannot begin with them, but can learn them later. Well, why? How is it that NPC in their communities could have them, but a PC couldn't?

I do not like justifying things by saying it has to be that way to balance out the rules. Think of AD&D. Elves live thousands of years, and yet have a level cap. Why is a creature that can live 10 times as long as a human restricted to a lower level? Is there some type of mental defect on elves? It was bizarre and many people ignored the level limits or modified them in some way.

Then, there is another reason - simplicity. If you are making a non-human you would have to constantly check to make sure the ability you wanted was one you could take a character creation. That seemed an unnecessary complication.

Recategorized the spells into just four elements. There are no longer mixed element spells. This also means there are no longer general category spells.Added 12 new spells to elementalism. Added the ability to specialize in elementalism like you can with other abilities, e.g. you can specialize in water magic.

The goal of these changes is to simplify the mechanics as well as open up additional setting options. For example, you can have water or fire casters. These could have their own guilds. Or, a setting can have spellcasters that do all. Having mixed element spells made this option unavailable.

I designed this for a different upcoming RPG, but I might include it as optional for PJ2E.

Initiative

All participants roll initiate (d10+speed). All participants declare action in reverse order. That is, the PC/NPC with the lowest number declare first, this is followed by the next lowest, etc. However, the actions are done in the order from highest to lowest.

The idea is to give the faster actors a chance to react to the slower actors. This is designed more for modern settings in specific situations (surprise, car chases). I am not sure if people would like this in a fantasy game or not.

Thanks for stopping by. I saw you on some other forum recently posting up about Colonial Gothic I think.

As for 2E, the rules are done. It is just the setting that I need to finish. I would like to have the game available before the end of year. I have an artist working on a wrap around cover. The biggest hurdle will be the interior art. That would likely be the main reason I could not have it out by December.

More play testers would be good. It mostly just depends on if testers want to use the setting. If it is just the rules, I can turn them into a PDF for any testers.

Added another new spell to the Water spell list. This makes all elements have an equal number of spells.

Removed the requirement to have a source of water for water whip. This brings the water spells more in line with the other elements. However, the source of water is still required for the water lasso. It actually makes the spell more useful.

This is what happens when you get distracted by new games. Anyway, almost done with all of the content. Here are the latest changes:

System

Modifying the 3d10 system to provide a gradient result based on the skill rating. This results in greater results the higher your skill is and a greater chance of a mishap the lower your skill is.

Magic

Removed 4 spell from the Enchantment line because they duplicated spells in other spell linesAdded 7 new Enchantment spellsAdded 3 new Dimensionology spellsAdded 1 new Water Spell to Elementalism (turns out it was still one behind from the other elements.)Added 1 new Sorcery spellAdded 2 new Shamanism spellsRemoved hyperspecialization from Shamanism. Moved those spells into normal paths optionsReduced the power of the Battle Shroom slightly and moved it to a lower gradeRemoved rituals from Theurgy and changed the rituals to spells. Those spells are now in different sects.